“Easy to say…now,” Jax sighed.
“No, easy to say, period.” Adam took a step forward, but Jill stopped him. “And I will say it again, if she goes, I go.”
“Same goes for me.” Steve stepped forward. “Not having a sharp shooter who can shoot the balls off an ant is a bad move in my book.” Steve winked at Jill, giving her his goofy smile.
Emotion gripped Jill’s throat in a choke hold making her unable to speak at all, but her eyes thanked Adam and Steve more than her words ever could.
“Jill is an asset to the VC Warriors,” Slade’s voice rolled over her emotions, almost doing her in. “And if you don’t like it, I release you from assisting me in their preparations for their initiation. I’m sure Sloan has other duties you can do. Either drop it or get out.”
Jax leaned back, looking at each of them, and then shrugged. “It’s your funeral.” He looked at Steve and Adam before turning his attention to Slade. “And your early retirement.”
“I said to fucking drop it,” Slade growled, taking a step toward Jax. Jax held up his hands as if surrendering. Slade glared at him for a second longer before grabbing the clipboard. “You guys go ahead and wait outside. We’ll get your scores and then head back to the compound. Sloan texted me earlier and has a job that needs doing.”
Jill nodded before looking at Jax, who was leaning against the wall, staring at her. “What?” Her tone wasn’t pleasant.
“Nothing really.” Jax’s half-grin didn’t fool her.
Before anyone else could say a word, a woman’s robotic voice came from Steve’s phone, “This is what I found on the web for ‘Do ants have balls’.”
“Ah shit.” Steve looked down at his phone. “I must have hit something to make it go off again.”
Jax’s mocking laugh grated on Jill’s last nerve. Without thinking, she flung her hand toward Steve and to everyone’s astonishment, his phone was pulled away from his hand and flung into Jill’s hand. Hitting the button for Siri, she brought the phone to her mouth. “Male chauvinistic pig.”
“What the hell?” Steve stared at his hand to Jill holding his phone. “How the hell did you do that?”
As soon as Siri answered, Jill looked down at the phone with a smirk, and then tossed Steve’s phone to Jax before walking out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She knew she would pay for that little stunt, but she didn’t care. What she really wanted to do was tell him to fuck off, but Jax was a scary guy and she wasn’t quite that brave or stupid.
Heading out of the shooting range, she walked back to the compound, which was only a few blocks away. She didn’t want to answer questions about what she had just done with Steve’s phone, because she really didn’t know how she did it, just knew she could. She had been practicing a lot, and one night in her room, she managed to move a cup across her small desk to her open hand. With more practice, she discovered not only could she move things with her hands, but pull objects toward her. It was pretty cool. She was sure Jax found it lame, but she didn’t really care. Okay, that was a lie. She did care what the asshole thought. She had always been a pleaser and hated, absolutely hated when someone was upset with her or didn’t like her. It sucked, but it was what it was.
Checking her pockets as she ran up the compound steps, she frowned. Dammit, she forgot her keys again. She was hoping to go to her room without being seen so she could get her mind right before seeing Sloan and the rest of the Warriors. Hitting the buzzer, she looked around, wondering what Slade had thought about her taking Steve’s phone like that. She released a frustrated breath; there she went again, wondering what others thought. She needed to get over that and not care. It was a cool power to have and she was perfecting it; that was all that should matter. Not what the hot doc thought.
“Jill?” Tessa’s voice came over the intercom.
Stepping fully into view of the camera, Jill smiled and waved. “It’s me. Forgot my keys again.”
The door opened and Jill walked in to see Tessa heading back to the game room in a hurry, motioning for her to come. “Hurry up,” Tessa called out over her shoulder.
“What’s going on?” Jill hurried across the entryway then stopped at the doorway. Sitting in front of the big screen television were Nicole, Lana, Pam, Angelina and Tessa plopping down on the couch.
“Okay, Lana, hit it.” Tessa settled in with a big smile.
Jill looked at the television as Russell Crowe’s face and buff bod dressed as a gladiator entered an arena. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“Angela and Lana have never seen it,” Tessa grinned.
“Do the guys know you’re watching it?” Jill walked further into the room, leaning against the couch, her eyes glued to the television, putting the Warriors in place of the actors. It was kind of surreal.